Project Detail

Philip and His Seven Wives

Synopsis

Funny and bizarre, this is the heart-warming tale of an unlikely family striving to achieve spiritual fulfilment in the murky waters of the 21st century.
 
In a quiet corner of England a former rabbi is living a remarkable life based on the ancient patriarchy of the Old Testament. Six years ago, God told the rabbi that he was to become a Hebrew King, and like a good patriarch, take multiple wives. Now he raises horses, runs four second-hand furniture shops in Brighton and Hove and lives with seven women who, while not legally his spouses, believe their union is sanctioned by God. Each seeks a different sort of spiritual fulfilment: from Chava, widowed after 25 years of marriage and the oldest of the wives, to Tracy, who has been banished from the house for resisting Philip’s patriarchal role. As the film progresses, the filmmaker gets extraordinary close to the family but reserves judgement, preferring to present them with all their foibles, strengths and contradictions.

Details

Year
2006
Type of film
Features
Running time
68 mins
Format
DigiBeta
Director
Marc Isaacs
Producer
Nick Fraser for BBC Storyville
Editor
Ollie Huddleston
Music
Michel Duvoisin

Genre

Production Status

Production Company

Bungalow Town Productions Ltd

5 Gordon Road
Shoreham by Sea
West Sussex BN43 6WF
UK

T+44 (0)12 7388 0689

M +44 (0)7710 477 407

rachel@bungalow-town.com

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

The Filmmaker's House The Filmmaker's House

Director: Marc Isaacs

Year: 2020

When the Filmmaker is told his next film must be about crime, sex or celebrity to get funded, he takes matters into his own hands and begins shooting in his home with a cast of characters connected to his own life.<br /> <br /> We first meet two English builders, employed to replace the garden fence, temporarily removing the barrier between the house and a Pakistani neighbour. This introduces the film’s central theme of hospitality which ultimately finds its expression when a homeless Slovakian man charms the Filmmaker’s Colombian cleaner to let him in and tests everyone's ideas of the expectations and boundaries between host and guests.<br /> <br /> Official Selection Sheffield Doc/Fest 2020 - World Premiere

Lift Lift

Director: Marc Isaacs

Year: 2004

Marc Isaacs sets himself up in an East End of London tower block lift with his camera and waits for new residents to reveal their lives. The result is both funny and moving. Sometimes the residents ignore him. One of them offers him food and a lady sticks holy pictures above his head.

Tramp Tramp

Director: Philip James McGoldrick

Year: 2025

An emotionally charged sports drama following Grazyna "The Tramp" Jarzynowska, a British-Polish MMA fighter whose meteoric rise is abruptly halted by an unexpected pregnancy.